Mystery: Family Ties: Mystery and Suspense (6 page)

There was something magical in the way his lips covered hers and possessed her whole being. She thought that it would be easy to resist him, but Asa would be lying to herself if she said that it would be easy. His hands held her close and Asa could feel her own hands rising up and embracing the man. The whole time her mind was screaming for her to slow things down, but her body had other ideas.

When he lifted his head to look into her eyes, Asa let go of him and took a few steps back. Gabriel followed her, trying to claim her lips again.

“Stop this now… we should talk…” she pleaded with him, but the man cornered her against the wall and kissed her again.

This time the kiss went deeper, as his tongue entered her mouth and started to explore it. Asa felt his hands wander over her back, her buttocks, her thighs… It was as if he was trying to learn every curve of her body.

Asa arrived at the FBI field office half an hour later and headed directly for Gibson’s office. Ann had greeted her with a smile and a few of the others agent did the same, but Asa had no time to lose at the moment and almost ran to Gibson’s office. Agent Gibson was waiting for her and even stood up from his seat to welcome her.

“We have the results from the horseshoe analysis,” he said urgently. “It's consistent with a single shoemaker from Polson, Montana near the Flathead Indian Reservation.”

“That is a good news,” Asa answered. “Finally, we have some leads.”

“We should go immediately and check on it,” Gibson said to her, giving her the report to go through.

“Yeah, yeah,” Asa muttered, too taken with the report to pay any attention to the man in the room. She was glad to have a reason to take her mind off the previous night and the man, who seemed to be constantly in her thoughts.

Gibson watched her read the report, open the door without lifting her gaze from the paper and disappear down the hall, probably going to her car. The man felt once again left behind and not taken into consideration. Shepherd, Clark and all the other young and successful women, seemed to think that men like him were to be used, but not taken seriously, and that made him angry.

“Shit!” He shouted at the closed door and turned around to sit back down on his chair. She wanted to go alone, okay, he was going to let her go alone, but that surely didn’t mean that he was going to help her take all the glory.

Agent Clark arrived in Polson, a small town near the Flathead Lake, before lunch time and decided to have lunch before meeting with the horseshoe maker. She went into the first dinner she saw on the way and ordered a chicken salad and an ice tea. Asa ate fast and avoided conversations with the local people.

When her lunch was over, Asa drove to the shoemaker’s barn and looked around. The man was a stout-bellied Ferrier, who also ran a barn and a feed store. Agent Clark quickly realized that she shouldn't have dressed in her suit, which screamed from miles away, FBI, but it was too late right now.

She walked to the barn and quickly found the man, bent over a table and cleaning a horse shoe with some sharp instrument. “Mr. Thomson?” she asked politely and waited for the man to turn around. He was around fifty years old, with pepper and salt hair and a large
moustache that made him look older.

“Yeah, that is me,” he said and started cleaning his hands with a rag. “How can I help you?”

“I am FBI agent Asa Clark,” she showed him her badge and walked closer. “I need you to look at some prints left by a horse you have treated.”

The man looked at the pictures and compared them to the horseshoe in his hands. “You are right, this is my work, but I cannot distinctively say, who it belongs to. All the horses that come to my barn get the same make, and I cannot tell one from the other.”

“Could you give me a list of the people, whose horses you work with?” Agent Clark asked, hoping to some other lead.

“Yes, I probably can do that, but I shoe everyone’s horses in the area. It will be impossible to interrogate them all.” The man commented.

Asa thought about what he had said and saw the truth behind his words. “Thank you, anyway, Mr. Thomson. If you remember something, please do not hesitate to contact me.” She added and gave him a card with her phone number on it.

Mr. Thomson accepted the card and promised to call if something came to his mind, but he doubted that he would be able to be of any help. Asa thought that the man
was hiding something or at least wasn’t saying everything, but there was no way for her to know what or to make him speak. With another glance in his direction, she walked out of the barn and prepared to leave the town, when a familiar face caught her attention.

At the feed store, which was situated just in front of the barn, she recognized Gabriel Kimble, talking to two other men. She debated if it was wise to speak to him, although her mind was urging her to go, her heart wanted other things. Making it look like an accidental meeting, Asa walked towards Gabriel and his friends.

“Asa,” he exclaimed with a happy smile on his lips and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. The woman felt as if last night was replaying in front of her eyes and smiled back at him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. And here of all places?”

“Yeah, it was a real surprise to me too,” the woman agreed and let him take her hand in his and tug her towards the other two men.

“Let me introduce you to my brother, David, and our neighbor, Ezekiel. Guys, this is Asa, we met yesterday at the pool hall in the city. She really showed some of the guys there how it is done.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss…” David, Gabriel’s brother said, extending his hand.

“Clark, Asa Clark,” she said easily, accepting his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

The other man also offered her his hand and then the two of them excused themselves and walked deeper into the store. Asa and Gabriel were left alone to talk to each other and the man surprised her by asking her to a coffee and turning around without even waiting for an answer.

“You look very sure of yourself,” the woman said playfully and Gabriel had to stop and kiss her in the middle of the road, not caring who was watching them.

“Why are you complaining?” He asked, when he let go of her lips. “I thought that we agreed at least on that part of the situation?”

“You mean that we like each other?”

“Oh, you have no idea how much I like you,” Gabriel said softly, managing to sound both passionate and gentle.

“Same here,” Asa added and they walked together into the café. “Tell me about your brother?” Asa asked, when they were seated at a window table and had already ordered their coffee. “He looks a lot like you.”

Gabriel looked out of the window, as if searching for his brother and Asa could swear that she saw his eyes get darker, as if he was scared. “My brother,” he repeated. “What can I tell you about my brother?”

Asa could tell that the atmosphere between them had changed. Gabriel was somehow guarded and started to close in on himself, and she didn’t like that. “Look, if you don’t want to speak about him, don’t. I was just curious.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Gabriel smiled at her, some of his previous warmth returning into his gaze. “My brother is just a very sore subject to me. Since my parents died, he is being everything to me and sometimes I feel trapped by him.”

“That could be very painful,” Asa agreed with him and waited to see if he was going to talk to her.

“David is ten years older than me and as you could see, a very rustic type,” Asa smiled at the memory of David’s beard and way of dressing. “He is the best cattle rancher in the area and a very intelligent person, although he only graduated from high school. His idea of happiness is living on the ranch with his family. My brother had never dreamed of something more, and that makes it impossible for him to understand that I may want more from life.”

“So, this is the reason, why you look so sad, when I asked you about him?” Asa asked him. “I had a similar experience with my mother. She wanted to control every aspect of my life. I fought hard and long to earn the right to make decisions for myself, but after years of struggle, I was able to look her in the eye and say what I wanted.”

“I can see that you are braver than me,” Gabriel laughed.
“Let’s
change the subject. Do you have plans for tonight?”

Before Asa could answer, however, David and his friend, Ezekiel walked pass the coffee shop. Neither of them saw Gabriel and Asa inside it, but Gabriel visibly became uneasy and Asa had to take his hand in hers in order to calm him down.

Asa watched the two men disappear inside another shop, and paid more attention to Ezekiel, who at the moment was carrying something very heavy in a simple bag. He
was probably the same age as David was and had a similar body build. The agent in her immediately wondered what
he was carrying in that bag, but Asa made the wise decision not to ask Gabriel about it.

By that time, Gabriel had recovered and was looking at her expectantly. “So, what do you say? Are you going to come to dinner with me, tonight?”

“Tonight?” Asa was surprised by his invitation and at first was ready to refuse, but then she remembered the instructions from the headquarters to get closer to the locals and decided that this would be a great chance to be seen with a local man. She really hoped that the Kalispell population would start to open up to her thanks to her friendship with Gabriel. “Okay, I don’t have any plans for tonight. Oh, I didn’t mean it that way. Sorry, I meant that I will be happy to have dinner with you.”

Gabriel laughed at her confused speech and leaned across the table to give her another kiss. “A yes would have sufficed, but your speech was also good.” He teased her and watched Asa became a little red in the cheeks.

“Where should we meet?” She asked him. “I have to go now.”

“You surely saw the big cinema sign on the main street, right? At only a few feet from it is situated a small family restaurant, which serves the best food in the area. Meet me there?”

“Okay, I will meet you there,” she promised and with a final kiss said goodbye for the moment.

Later that same night, Asa dressed with care in a beautiful silk blouse and elegant skirt. She decided to wear her hair loose and even put on some light makeup. Asa took a taxi to the restaurant and arrived just in time. She expected Gabriel to come in a car too, but the man surprised her once again by arriving on horseback. She watched him ride towards her on the back of a beautiful black horse.

Asa thought her heart skipped a few beats, when she saw him for the first time. He looked magnificent on the back of the horse, dressed in a traditional jacket and a cowboy hat. The man approached her slowly and stopped the horse right in front of her, but Asa didn’t move away. On the contrary, the woman stood her ground even caressed the horse.

“Now, this was unexpected,” she said to him with a smile. “Why didn’t you tell me that you intended to arrive in style? I could have done the same.”

“You like riding?” Gabriel asked not at all surprised.

“I am half American Indian, don’t you remember?” Asa asked playfully.

“Oh, believe me, I remember that,” the man muttered and climbed down from the horse. “I changed my mind about the place, where we are going to have dinner. Do you mind?”

“No, not at all,” Asa shook her head. “Where are you taking me?”

“This way, my lady,” Gabriel pointed at a side street and they walked side by side, with the horse following them. After a few feet, Asa was surprised to see a large meadow and people dancing, eating or just walking around. The place was like an oasis in amidst the buildings around it and was obviously used for fairs and country gatherings.

“What is this?” Asa asked nevertheless and the man laughed.

“This is the traditional restaurant of Uncle Bobby,” he exclaimed. “You will like it, I am sure of it.”

Asa didn’t disagree, as she already had thought the same and followed him to a wooden table for two at the far end of the restaurant. “This is the area for those who search intimate settings, and I should warn you against the local chili. Don’t try it.”

They sat down at the table and the waitress came quickly to serve them. Both of them ordered from the barbeque together with a couple of beers. The horse was taken to a nearby stable.

“Tell me about the horse?” Asa asked. “It looks like a magnificent animal.”

“Oh, he is magnificent, you can say so,” the man agreed proudly. “I had him since he was only a year old. You can say that we grew up together.”

“I always dreamed of having a horse, a dog or even just a cat, but my way of life never gave me the possibility to do so. I am really jealous of you right now.”

“That must be one of the few perks of living on a cattle ranch,” Gabriel laughed. “Personally, I am just glad that I live and work not too far from town, because all that close contact with nature can be a bit too much sometimes.”

Asa had the time of her life, having a romantic dinner with Gabriel. She really wanted to get to know him better and the moment seemed perfect for that job. They talked about each other’s dreams and aspirations, with Asa learning of his great desire to get out of Montana and see the world and Gabriel finding it funny that Asa wished to see China, by reaching it by sea. The only dark moment in the evening was the fact that Asa didn’t mention that she was an FBI agent. She still wasn’t sure how he would accept the truth and although she never actually spoke about her job to Gabriel, she still felt as if she was lying to him.